Been trying to determine the importance of ML BC's. While the info on MiL BC's is clear, all the Guide says about their ML counterparts is "The BC takes over as manager after any managerial ejection". Is that it? That didn't seem right so I researched the ML BC hiring practices of the more experienced & successful owners in a couple of my worlds. They were about 50/50 with many paying minimum wage while others spent around $2M. At the end of the day a team wins because they have good players but this particular team of mine isn't very good. Guess I'm just wondering how much a pricey, top flight BC is going to help?

I spend 8 mill total on coaches unless I need a fielding instructor then 10. I have yet to see a difference.

1) I spend $7M on coaches unless I need a FI, then I spend $9M.
2) I essentially never spend money on an ML bench coach. I set "argumentative" to zero and save the money.
3) I do spend money on minor league bench coaches, and if I were ever to have major league players still of development age in the majors, I would want a good ML bench coach. But I very rarely have that situation.

I actually target bench coaches with the highest combined hitting, pitching and fielding ratings. I know there’s conflicting guidance (bench coaches just come in when managers ejected vs. affecting hitting/pitching/etc.), but I’m a believer there is an effect on your hitting and pitching from your bench coach. Plus those bench coaches are usually pretty cheap since people mostly target strategy.

I think that this combined w/targeting good bullpen/1st/3rd coaches can give your team a little edge over the regular season. Granted, I haven’t done any in depth research, so I’m not 100% on this.

I never spend more than the minimum salary on ML bench coaches. I think bench coaches are more important in the minor leagues than the ML.

I try not to spend too much on a bench coach. I do something similar to pray4pro above -- get a balanced guy that has ratings in all four categories. I also try to find guys with a high discipline rating. I have noticed that even players past the age of 25 gain control or batting eye when I have coaches with elite discipline.

If the above are not available for cheap, then i evaluate my MLB team and decide which rating i need more (pitching or hitting) and go with a cheap guy that will give me some extra pitching or hitting.

the whole fielding instructor thing is a mess. I had to spend $4MM on a decent one this past season in one of my leagues. I generally target min salary bench coaches but in one league decided to go all in just to see what happens. I have a bunch of young studs and want to make sure they progress nicely. I can't say I've seen much of a difference but I've been winning and don't want to jinx it.